View full sizeJoseph Tobianski | MLive.comFormer Detroit Lions wide receiver and Saginaw High School star athlete Charles Rogers appears for arraignment before Saginaw County District Judge A.T. Frank on April 5. Rogers, 30, is charged with five misdemeanors in two unrelated incidents and faces up to a year in jail.

SAGINAW, MI — Charles Rogers, the former Saginaw High School star athlete and former Detroit Lions wide receiver now accused of threatening to kill his mother, appeared for court about four hours late today.

Rogers, 30, appeared before Saginaw County District Judge A.T. Frank about 2:30 p.m. for a pre-trial hearing that was scheduled for 10:15 a.m.

Rogers told the judge that he has been busy moving out of his Novi home but that he had “no excuse” for his tardiness, adding later, “It's my fault, sir.”

Frank this morning issued a bench warrant for Rogers' arrest with the understanding that if Rogers appeared at a later time today, he would have to explain his tardiness. Frank recalled the warrant and reinstated Rogers' $7,500 personal recognizance bond.

“I'm pretty forgiving for most, as long as they show up that day,” Frank told Rogers.

The judge told Rogers to go to the Saginaw County Pre-Trial Services offices, where workers there would interview him. Frank said he wanted Rogers on a “day reporting” program with the “primary service to have some pre-trial services.” The county program provides “verified defendant information” and offers, among other things, “assessment referral to substance abuse counseling counseling and mental health service,” the county's website states.

Rogers, his voice sometimes quivering as he stood before Frank, asked the judge, “Do you really want to help me?”

“I do,” Frank replied, “but I need some more background information.”

Rogers said he currently doesn't have a permanent living situation.

“I'm putting stuff in storage, trying to get things together,” he told Frank.

Frank said that Saginaw Township attorney Kirk Ellsworth had indicated that Rogers intended to hire him, but Ellsworth had yet to file an appearance on Rogers' behalf.

Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Demond Tibbs told the judge that a possible “forthcoming charge” may be added against Rogers, but did not specify what charge. The Saginaw News was unable to immediately reach county Prosecutor Michael D. Thomas for comment.

Both Charles Rogers and Ronie Rogers, who faces the same charges, have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Court officials had yet to set a trial date for the co-defendants.

A police report written by Michigan State Police Trooper Jennifer Coulter states that Rogers' mother, Cathy Rogers, told Coulter that Charles Rogers, Ronie Rogers, and Cathy's sister, Debbie Rogers, placed threatening phone calls to her after she called Charles Rogers about a potential danger in him losing his house. Cathy Rogers played the messages for Coulter, the report states, and in one of those messages, Charles Rogers threatened to “blow her mouth out” and said he was willing to do “the time” he would face as a result.

Coulter wrote that Charles Rogers then left multiple voicemail messages on her office phone, indicating that he wanted his mother to return $100,000. An arbitrator in 2008 ordered Rogers to pay $8.5 million in signing bonus money back to the Lions for defaulting on his contract. That figure later was reduced to $6.1 million; it wasn't clear how much, if any, Rogers has repaid the organization.

Ronie Rogers has told The Saginaw News that his sister “edited” multiple voicemail messages together and that he doesn't believe that his nephew was involved like Cathy Rogers told Coulter.

In addition to the charges from that incident, Charles Rogers is charged with possessing marijuana, possessing an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle, and operating a motor vehicle on a suspended or revoked license Dec. 2 at South Fayette and Dearborn in Saginaw. The charges stemmed from a traffic stop, and prosecutors also secured a warrant against Shaena S. Pershay, 27, also charging her with possessing an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle.

Pershay surrendered authorities April 5, the same day that Charles Rogers turned himself in. She pleaded guilty to the charge before Frank and was ordered to pay $167 in fines and court costs.

If convicted of the marijuana charge, Rogers would face up to a year in jail.

Rogers, who was a three-sport star at Saginaw High, excelled as a wide receiver at Michigan State University. He was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft, but his career was cut short by injuries and subsequent marijuana use.